The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Coral Bells in the Saxifragaceae family and given the cultivar name of ‘Pink Panther’. Heuchera ‘Pink Panther’ was hybridized by the inventor on Apr. 22, 2013 at a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Mich., USA. The seed or female parent was the proprietary unreleased hybrid known by the breeder code 12-490-01 and the pollen or male parent was the proprietary unreleased hybrid known by the breeder code K11-52-15.
Heuchera ‘Pink Panther’ was first selected in the summer of 2014 and assigned the breeder code 13-802-1 through the remaining evaluation process where it passed final evaluation in the fall of 2017 from among many other seedlings from the same cross and hundreds of other crosses. Heuchera ‘Pink Panther’ has been asexually propagated by division at the same nursery in Zeeland, Mich. in 2016 and by sterile, shoot-tip, tissue culture propagation, and the resultant plants have remained stable and continued to exhibit the same characteristics as the original plant for multiple generations.
The nearest comparison plant is the sister sibling ‘Silver Gumdrop’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 29,207. ‘Silver Gumdrop’ has heavier and more consistent silver overlay on the foliage, the leaves are smaller and the flowers are more red. Compared to ‘Wildberry’ U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 16/350,491, ‘Wildberry’ has darker purple foliage with white flower petals. ‘Electric Plum’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 29,924 has foliage that is more bright purple and the flowers are lighter pink on shorter stems with fewer flowers per stem. The ancestors differ in that ‘Tiramisu’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 20,429 has leaves that are more butterscotch in color becoming more brick red and the flowers are cream-colored. ‘Mocha Mint’ (not patented) has smaller green leaves with silver overlay and fewer light-pink flowers on smaller stems. ‘Milan’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 21,682 has smaller leaves that are more reddish with more green undertone. ‘Stainless Steel’ has leaves that are more silver with greenish undertone and without the greyed purple around the veins, and the flowers are white flowers.
Heuchera ‘Pink Panther’, differs from its parents as well as all other coral bells known to the applicant in the following combined traits:
                1. The large foliage has rounded apices and rounded lobes.        2. Large leaf blades begin season pinkish coloration.        3. Leaf blades are shallowly dissected with apices rounded with tiny sharp tips and slightly ruffled margin.        4. Flowers provide a deep rose effect from calyces with pale pink petals.        5. Stiff, erect, branched panicles display flowers just above foliage beginning late spring.        6. The new plant is vigorous and produces large broadly-mounded clumps.        